About us

About Electrozombies

Electrozombies (est. 2010) is an inter­na­tion­al Synthpop magazine focused on Synth Pop, Electro Pop, Future Pop, Industrial Pop, EBM, Dark Wave and genre related music. In par­tic­u­lar, we pub­lish music videos, album reviews, inter­views, music down­loads, best-of list art­icles, our own com­plil­a­tions and trib­utes and much more. For detailed inform­a­tion about the founder, Thomas Frenken, please read the story behind the ori­gin of Electrozombies.

In Synthpop we trust
Claim of Thomas Frenken, founder of Electrozombies

What we publish

Music videos: We love good music videos and post a new music video almost every day. In addi­tion to new music videos from Synth Pop and genre-related music, we also reg­u­larly present clas­sic music videos that have almost been for­got­ten to bring back fond memor­ies. Once a month we com­pile the best music videos and cre­ate the YouTube playl­ist 'Electrozombies TV' on our YouTube chan­nel.

Album reviews: Our album reviews are unique because of our rat­ing meth­od. For a final scor­ing we use the track by track rat­ing meth­od. This is to provide an approx­im­ate object­ive rat­ing and com­par­ab­il­ity with the oth­er reviews. Of course we are aware that no review can be object­ive, but if you are on our wavelength, then you can fully trust our recom­mend­a­tion. In addi­tion, we are 100% inde­pend­ent here and don't let labels or promo man­agers dic­tate any­thing to us. Only our opin­ion counts. If we don't like some­thing, the artist or band doesn't have to be afraid of a bad review. Anything we rate lower than 3 stars, we don't even pub­lish, because such a review doesn't help anyone.

Interviews: Electrozombies inter­views scene author­it­ies and tries not only to com­mu­nic­ate the usu­al mar­ket­ing bla bla about the new album or the upcom­ing tour. With per­son­al ques­tions we want to know who is behind the artist or band in order to cre­ate intim­acy and to be able to look at their music in a new light. Furthermore, we ask for music­al recom­mend­a­tions, for example, so that you as a read­er can go on a jour­ney of dis­cov­ery for new music.

Music com­pil­a­tions: We pro­duce two types of com­pil­a­tions at irreg­u­lar inter­vals. One is our 'Undead And Open-Minded' series. Here we offer a plat­form for new or still unknown bands to present their songs to a wide audi­ence in the form of a free and well-cur­ated com­pil­a­tion. And secondly, we have our trib­ute com­pil­a­tions. We love Synth Pop cov­ers ourselves and have found oth­er fant­ast­ic bands through oth­er trib­ute com­pil­a­tions. And this is exactly where we start. The fans of a great band for which we do a trib­ute listen to cov­er ver­sions and dis­cov­er new bands. This pro­mo­tion is com­pletely free of charge for all bands that participate.

Transparency: How we work

At Electrozombies, the human aspect is at the centre of everything we do – even in the age of AI. Our reviews are always based on hon­est, per­son­al engage­ment with the music. We first write down our thoughts in the tra­di­tion­al way, by hand or on a key­board. To make them more flu­id and read­able, we then use AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity. We use a prompt developed in-house to ensure that our tone is con­sist­ent. The gen­er­ated texts are always proofread, edited and, if neces­sary, revised by hand. You will nev­er find a machine-gen­er­ated opin­ion on our site.

We make a clear state­ment: we are scep­tic­al about 100% AI-gen­er­ated music. Even if it is tech­nic­ally impress­ive, it lacks what music means to us – emo­tion, soul, authen­ti­city. We do our best to fil­ter out such pro­duc­tions. Should a track slip through, we ask for your under­stand­ing. Technical devel­op­ments are rap­id, and unfor­tu­nately, the decep­tion is often perfect.

For smal­ler graph­ic ele­ments such as playl­ist cov­ers or pre­view graph­ics, we occa­sion­ally use AI-powered image gen­er­at­ors – purely for prag­mat­ic reas­ons of time sav­ing. However, our lar­ger visu­al works, such as com­pil­a­tions, con­tin­ue to be cre­ated by hand, with heart and dedication.

And one more thing: music reviews are nev­er object­ive – nor should they be. Every art­icle on Electrozombies is a sub­ject­ive per­spect­ive, shaped by the per­son­al taste of the respect­ive cur­at­or. That's exactly what makes it so appeal­ing. No algorithm can replace that.

Electrozombies facts

Establishment: December 2010
Location: Based in Germany, oper­at­ing worldwide
Organisational form: 100% inde­pend­ent, non-profit
Friends and rela­tions: Communion After Dark, Brutal Resonance, GEWC, Depeche Mode Covers

Electrozombies profile

Pro: Open-minded thoughs, LGBTQ+ rights
Con: EBM Elite scene from East-Germany, Alt-right move­ments, Cancel Culture